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Europe & Eurasia
The Negroni Diaries
EU-Turkey earthquake relief conference: Time to get serious
The European Union is hosting a reconstruction conference in Brussels on March 20 to focus on the aftermath of Turkey’s devastating February 6 earthquakes,...
Bulgaria
Energy supply diversification out of Russia’s orbit is a top priority for Bulgaria
Bulgaria intends to diversify its energy resources, including supplying the country’s main refinery in Burgas - the largest in the Balkans - with non-Russian...
Europe & Eurasia
Recovery from the disaster of the century needs more than a few months of international assistance
Two devastating earthquakes hit the Turkish-Syrian border on February 6. The epicenter of the first 7.7 magnitude quake struck 34 kilometers west of Gaziantep,...
Georgia
Georgia has shown the world that a Kremlin project can be defeated
Over the past few days, the world’s attention was on Georgia. We saw massive protests fueled by anger, concerns and fear, and eventually, we...
Europe & Eurasia
Putin’s New START withdrawal has broad implications
Vladimir Putin continues to persuade Russians that the West provoked his imperialist war of aggression against Ukraine. His announcement that he would no longer...
Energy
Energy-strapped Germany sets ambitious 30 GW offshore wind target by 2030
Germany, which has been struggling to fill its massive energy gap following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reduction of natural gas deliveries, is planning...
Invasion of Ukraine
Sanctions, sanctions everywhere
On February 24, 2023, the US Government alongside G-7 leaders announced via a White House statement a new set of trade and economic measures...
Defense & Security
Providing Ukraine with advanced Western fighters is a logical step towards battlefield success
While Ukraine may have weathered the storm of Russia’s initial onslaught and retaliated with a force and determination largely thought to have been beyond...
Greece
Eclipsed by Ukraine concerns, Blinken visits Turkey and Greece
After attending the Munich Security Conference on February on 17-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed for a brief regional mission to Turkey...
Energy
Georgia, Romania mull Black Sea undersea power cable to supply CEE Europe
Georgia, which is a transit country for oil and gas routes, is spearheading efforts to launch a very ambitious project that would create a corridor for green energy from the Caspian to the Balkans and CEE.
Turkey
Turkey-Syria earthquake relief efforts spawn new diplomatic initiatives
With rescue efforts continuing after a devastating 7.8 Richter earthquake that took place on the Turkey-Syria border on February 6, survivors are miraculously still...
Belarus
A Belarusian politician, fraudster and businessman kept money in Credit Suisse
It was the last summer day of 2008. An Audi was waiting in line to leave Belarus for Poland. Petr Kalugin, a House of Representatives deputy,...
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan planning to launch green energy exports to Europe
Azerbaijan, which is already a main exporter of oil and gas, plans to develop its renewable energy potential, especially offshore wind in the Caspian...
Armenia
Turkey’s seismic shift
This breakthrough in normalization between Armenia and Turkey comes amid a much wider context, well beyond the simple validation of earthquake diplomacy to elevate crisis response over conflict retention.
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Voluntary prisoners of history
By now it should have been clear to everyone that we are contemporaries of another - I would say, 'revolutionary' - transformation of humanity....
Germany
Germany’s approval of tanks for Ukraine suggest Berlin is no longer on the fence
The decision to dispatch some Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine suggests Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz has finally decided which side he would like to win in Kyiv’s struggle against Putin’s barbarism.
Analysis
Lukashenko’s sanctioned ally continues to do business in the EU
In 2020, businessman Alexander Shakutin came under EU sanctions for supporting Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko.The activities of his companies in the EU were supposed...
Bulgaria
Bulgaria again heads towards elections
Bulgaria is now moving towards its fifth parliamentary election in two years as a result of the failure of the latest group of elected...
Invasion of Ukraine
What a difference one year makes
Ukraine’s steadfastness has shown Putin's dreams of a post-Soviet Russian Empire are pure fiction.
Armenia
Armenia’s parliament could take steps to severely curtail press freedom in the country
Armenian authorities appear to be using the South Caucasus nation's military conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan as an excuse to curtail press freedom.On January 6,...
Interviews
Quo vadis, Italia?
2023 promises to be a pivotal year for Italy as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks to lead the country down a path of political and economic stabilization.
Croatia
Croatia advances to the EU mainstream
Croatia took a decisive step January 1 towards the mainstream of the European project by adopting the Euro as its currency while at the...
Columns
Could this be the end of the Chekist renaissance?
Russia's once all-powerful successor to the KGB - the FSB - is watching its status crumble after major military defeats in Ukraine.
EU Institutions
The end of Europe
The European Union is simply too big; it is composed of too many cultures and political perspectives; and, despite Brussels' claim that it values diversity over all other issues, this does not include a deviation from what it considers its own norms. As matters currently stand, the EU runs the risk of collapsing under its own weight.
Columns
Putin threatens global security with renewed nuclear saber rattling
Putin's maniacal compulsion to start a nuclear war is not just a sinister ultimatum to world peace, it is simply mad.
Defense & Security
Neutral but not neutered: Ireland’s security needs to be nurtured
The Irish people have been a beacon of light against darkness, hatred and genocide. But Ireland needs to do more to contribute to the dismantling of autocracies, the self-determination of peoples still shackled by remnant empires and the emancipation and empowerment of all underprivileged people.
Europe & Eurasia
Has Armenia killed the South Caucasus peace process?
Despite the issuance elaborate diplomatic statements detailing the various policy spheres in which discussions were held, Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, publicly stated that “no concrete results” had been reached regarding a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Kosovo
Latest Kosovo unrest less than meets the eye
Most observers of Balkan developments will agree that a Kosovo crisis of various flavors seems to emerge with some regularity around the holiday season...
Invasion of Ukraine
Pentagon’s reported change on targeting could result in a more costly, earlier defeat for Moscow
The idea that a country which Russians have been told could never put up effective resistance is actually winning, dragging their country into a grim battle of attrition, will do more to make Russian people doubt their leadership than any inhumane rocket attack against their cities.
Europe & Eurasia
Poland is going its own way
The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, continues to attack Germany, the main focus of his ire in Europe. Kaczynski...
Albania
EU Tirana Summit: Enlargement must go on
The summit's generic one size fits all “membership perspective” statement was seen as good news by most after the topic of EU Enlargement had become a highly controversial subject.
Bulgaria
Schengen Zone tremblors center on Bulgaria and Romania
The Netherlands announced on December 2 that it will accept Romania and Croatia's joining the EU’s special passport-free Schengen Zone but intended to block...
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s opening of an embassy in Israel is a major tectonic shift on the regional geopolitical map
With the regional geopolitical situation as it is, and amidst pressure and threats on multiple fronts, Azerbaijan has responded with a key decision to bolster relations with a key ally by formally opening an embassy in Israel.
Interviews
Italy sees close cooperation with NATO as key to Europe’s strategic defense
Europe needs to avoid, at all costs, any form of decoupling between EU defense cooperation and the transatlantic alliance.
Refugees & Migration
Unexpected migration woes
Brussels has, in the case of the migrant problem, proven that the EU's feckless bureaucrats are persuasive only when they carry a big stick against those that openly mock them.
Newsletter
One rule for life & what maps mean: Keep Jordan Peterson away from Ukraine
For Peterson to refer to Russia's invasion as an ‘incursion’ is nothing more than insulting. The word does not make allowances for the wholesale destruction of cities, the occupation of territory and the murder of the inhabitants.
Albania
Scholz’s Berlin Process Summit yields agreements, draws yawns
The November 3 Berlin Process Summit, held in the presence of six Western Balkan leaders and key EU luminaries in the context of the...
Belarus
How a secret Lithuanian partner helped a Belarusian oligarch make billions
Chyzh and Tomaszevski earned more than $5 billion in Belarus from the manipulation of customs codes for petroleum products by marking them as “solvents”.
Europe & Eurasia
The regulation of crypto-assets is not enough to prevent the risks facing investors
Europe is on the verge of regulating the cryptocurrency industry, a long overdue and necessary step that will offer greater protection to investors, while...
Austria
Late Red Bull tycoon left an indelible mark on Austrian society & politics
He was described as the “most famous unknown” in Austria, Dieter Mateschitz was one of the richest people in the country – according...
Columns
Erdogan & Putin’s plan to create a gas hub in Turkey is a purely anti-Western political ploy
The initiative would be a significant political move by Ankara and Moscow that directly challenges the West and its support for Ukraine.
Democracy & Human Rights
The South Caucasus peace process should address war crimes issues
The EU must do more to ensure peace in the South Caucasus.
Bulgaria
US discusses energy security, diversification in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria
The United States discussed joint efforts on European energy security and advanced the clean energy transition in Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria during the visit...
Invasion of Ukraine
Contemplating evil in Ukraine
According to the Geneva Conventions, Russia is perpetrating genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Invasion of Ukraine
Mykolaiv’s fight with collaborators saves lives and wrecks Russia’s plans in the south
Oleksy Vadatursky and his wife Raisa, one of the wealthiest couples in the Mykolaiv region, were killed in a Russian missile strike this summer....
Russia
Major Japanese auto companies giving up on Russia
Toyota and Nissan, two major Japanese automakers with substantial manufacturing capacity, pulled out of Russia after both claimed that carrying out any future business...
Agriculture & Food Security
The global energy crisis is negatively impacting Italy’s wine industry
Rising costs of almost €1.5 billion are facing the Italian wine industry as a result of the ongoing gas and energy crisis and now...
Zero Tolerance
Washington sanctions BiH officials undermining Dayton Agreement
On October 3, the US Department of State announced the designation of two individuals and one commercial entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for...
Energy
International power plays
Countries often seem to behave like children in a schoolyard. Some will be loners, others want to be part of a gang. There is...
International Organizations
SCO heads gather in Uzbekistan’s cultural capital for key conference
On September 15-16, Central Asia's most populated nation, Uzbekistan, took a further step towards solidifying its place as a central regional player when it...
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